Klamath agreement extended

All 42 stakeholders of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement -- a series of proposals for water quality, flows and restoration contingent on the removal of four Klamath River Dams -- approved an amendment to continue the agreement until 2014.

The KBRA received full approval on Dec. 29, two days before it was set to expire.

According to a press release, "the amendments extend the time for passage of federal legislation, address tribal funding issues, and clean up other provisions of the document."

Stakeholders initially approved the agreement in 2010, and included the self-imposed deadline in hopes that Congress would legislate the proposal by the end of this year.

The fight over the Klamath Basin goes back more than a decade, with the control of water flowing through four dams operated by PacifiCorp at the center of an intense debate.

The issue is largely split along the lines of fish advocates and tribes on the lower Klamath versus irrigators and farmers in the upper basin, each insisting that their livelihoods depended on more water. After years of negotiation, the KBRA was agreed upon by government agencies, tribes and other interest groups, but did not preclude a host of detractors.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe voiced opposition to the amendment in November, along with some fish advocates and local citizens.